Donations fizzle, but Fourth fireworks will fly

Thursday

Jun 26, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2008 at 4:33 PM

Many towns that have long had fireworks as the exclamation point to their Fourth of July celebrations have had to wonder this year if there would be enough money raised to keep the big night’s skies brightened and booming.

Don Conkey

Despite donations for Fourth of July fireworks losing some pop in many towns, the shows will go on, at least in most towns.

Abington’s Fourth of July committee is still $14,000 short of what it needs to put on its town’s holiday events.

“We had people out last night beating on doors looking for corporate sponsors,’’ committee Chairman Bob Baker said today.

Baker said the committee will meet tonight to decide how to proceed.

Other than Abington, all the towns that usually have fireworks will have them, but it wasn’t easy.

“There will be fireworks. There will always be a show in Hingham,” said Richard Lamb, fireworks chairman for the Hingham Lions Club, which sponsors the fireworks there. As in most communities, however, raising the $50,000 for the Hingham fireworks and related costs has not been easy and there is still a budget deficit.

Whatever the reason – gasoline prices, food costs, the economy in general – public and corporate donations for Fourth of July fireworks celebrations have fizzled.

In Hingham, a Lions Club board met Wednesday night to address a $15,000 shortfall in the projected $50,000 budget that includes sound system, lights, portable toilets and the like.

The board made no decision to scale anything back and will meet again to review the situation, Lamb said today.

“I think it’s the economy. People are not giving what they have last year, or the year before that,” Lamb said before the meeting.

Things have been no easier in Plymouth.

“We rely on contributions, and we have been very fortunate over the years. But fundraising is getting more and more difficult,” said Selectman Kenneth Tavares, the town’s July 4 committee chairman.

Tavares said that it costs about $90,000 to fund Plymouth’s full Independence Day celebration, which includes a morning parade, an evening band concert, and the fireworks display over the harbor after dark.

The fireworks display accounts for about $50,000 of that, he said. There would have been no fireworks this year, Tavares said, if Plymouth Rock Studios hadn’t stepped forward with a $50,000 donation to underwrite the show. Plymouth Rock Studios wants to build a movie production studio in town.

“Throw in the hard economic situations people are facing this year – $60 or $70 to fill up their vehicle with gas – and it becomes all the tougher for them to donate money to something. People are hurting,” he said.

Jeff Kaylor, director of the Canton Recreation Department, said it costs between $20,000 and $25,000 to put on the town’s full celebration, with a July 4 fireworks show accounting for about $15,000 of that.

“It is a struggle,” Kaylor said, with contributions funding everything, including band concerts and a small carnival.

“It has been especially difficult this year. Companies seem a little tighter, along with private donations. But we have been able to get enough to get it together,” Kaylor said.

In Randolph, the town’s firefighters union has raised money and sponsored the fireworks, but they opted out this year because of the poor economy and other fundraising efforts by firefighters.

Selectmen decided to go forward with the fireworks and have been raising the money to pay for them.

In Braintree, the 35th Independence Day celebration committee this week issued a final appeal for donations to town residents and businesses because it was still $6,000 short on the event’s $35,000 budget. William Hedlund, Braintree parks and recreation superintendent, said about $20,000 pays for the fireworks.

Hedlund said that there was no chance the fireworks would be canceled because of the $6,000 shortfall. People and companies always seem to come through at the last minute with donations before the event, or even during it, he said.

Baker, the chairman of Abington’s Night Before the Fourth celebration, said this week that the group has raised $16,000 of the $30,000 needed to pay for the fireworks.

“I’ve never seen it so bad. Businesses that were our main contributors, like real estate companies, just don’t have it this year,” he said.

Lee Hultin, assistant to Weymouth Mayor Sue Kay, said that as of Wednesday, donations were about $4,000 short of a $45,000 goal for Saturday’s Fourth of July celebration, which includes fireworks at George Lane Beach, “but it’s not enough to jeopardize the event,” she said.

“We had to tighten our belt, but we’re going to pull this one off.”

Don Conkey may be reached at dconkey@ledger.com.

FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS SHOWS ON THE SOUTH SHORE

Saturday

Weymouth: George Lane Beach, 9:30 p.m.

Braintree: near Braintree High School, 10 p.m.

July 3

Randolph: Randolph High School, 9:15 p.m.

Abington: behind Frolio Junior High School, 9:30.

Sharon: Memorial Beach, over Lake Massapoag, 9:30.

July 4

Plymouth: over Plymouth Harbor, 9:15.

Canton: Canton High School, 9:30 p.m.

Halifax: behind Halifax Elementary School, 9:15.

July 5

Hingham: over Hingham Harbor, at the Hingham Bathing Beach, 9:30 p.m.

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